I decided to take a sidestep from making Hack42-Mate. I wondered if it would be possible to make an alcoholic version of my Mate recipe. The most natural way seemed to be a mead. The recipe was based on mead recipes I found [http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus/mead-recipe.html here] and on the two best Mate recipes (3 & 6) from the First Iteration.

While researching I found some recipes of others trying to brew, or brewing, their own Mate soda. I collected those recipes on [[Gebruiker:Lurwah/Hack42-Mate/Found_Recipes|this page]].

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Here’s the recipe for the syrup (yields about 500ml):

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==Fermentation==

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50g yerba mate (with stems/con palos)

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===Mate mead===

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500ml water (boiled and allowed to cool slightly)

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I decided to take a sidestep from making Hack42-Mate. I wondered if it would be possible to make an alcoholic version of my Mate recipe. The most natural way seemed to be a mead. The recipe was based on mead recipes I found [http://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus/mead-recipe.html here] and on the two best Mate recipes (3 & 6) from the First Iteration.

:2012/03/18: Fermentation seems to have finished. Needs to be racked and measured soon.

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:2012/03/22: Third (and final) racking. Measured SG at 19°C: 1.008

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:: Calculated ABV: 11.85%

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:2012/05/27: [[Haktiviteit_27_mei_2012#Borrel|Tasting]] session. First opening of the bottle. Racked one .5 liter bottle to age.

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::;Notes

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::[[Gebruiker:Lurwah|Lurwah]]: Full taste of honey, without the sweetness of sugar. Notes of Mate come through quite well balanced with the smell and taste of the honey. Takes some getting used to, but very drinkable. Not headache material.

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::[[Gebruiker:WitchDoc|WitchDoc]]: Had a few glasses and liked it very much. Although i'm not sure if it can be contributed to the Mate in the mead I had a hard time getting to sleep that night.

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:: [[Gebruiker:Moem|Moem]]: I found it surprisingly unsweet. Mate hard to detect, but present; honey not all that noticeable, either. Quite tasty tough. Moar plz!

Hack42-Mate

My goal is to develop a recipe for an enjoyable Mate-based soda. If eventually found to be good (enough), we might decide to drink our own Mate instead of buying Club-Mate. Whether we do this or not, it is always possible to brew a batch for a party or large event. Who would say no to a keg of home-brew Mate?

First Iteration

In this iteration I tried to find out a basic recipe that works, or points towards the right direction.
I brewed six different bottles of Mate-soda, based on recipes I found. The plan was to make three basic recipes twice and brew the Mate for either five or seven minutes, resulting in six different batches. The three basic methods were:

This last method is based on the traditional preparation of yerba mate tea.
All recipes were cooled to serving temperature and then carbonated with a SodaClub machine.
I gathered a taste panel during one of our meets for a "blind" (they didn't know the recipes) tasting of the several batches I brewed. Of course, I also gave them a glass of the original Club-Mate (some people didn't like Club-Mate as much as Club-Mate...). They kindly gave their feedback, a summary of which can be found below the recipes.

Recipes

Note: All degrees(°) are in centigrade.

Version 1.

1 liter water (90°)

1 gram citric acid (dissolved)

70 grams sugar (dissolved)

20 grams Mate (brew for five minutes)

(Note: Resulted in rapid expulsion of copious amounts of foam after adding CO2)

Question form

Results

Bottle label to recipe key

A:6

B:1

C:Original Club-Mate

D:5

E:2

F:4

G:3

The Dutch results are here. (Summary: Version 3&6 were most popular)
I have not yet seen anybody use the recipes in version 3 & 6 to make a Mate-soda. So for me it was an exciting result, that these turned out to be the better tasting ones. I decided after the tasting to work on these two recipes in the future.

Found Recipes

While researching I found some recipes of others trying to brew, or brewing, their own Mate soda. I collected those recipes on this page.

Fermentation

Mate mead

I decided to take a sidestep from making Hack42-Mate. I wondered if it would be possible to make an alcoholic version of my Mate recipe. The most natural way seemed to be a mead. The recipe was based on mead recipes I found here and on the two best Mate recipes (3 & 6) from the First Iteration.

2012/01/25: Fermentation slowed down to a stop after the second racking.

Made a yeast starter with 200 ml of warm water, inverted sugar, 3-4 grams of yeast. Pitched at room temperature.

2012/03/18: Fermentation seems to have finished. Needs to be racked and measured soon.

2012/03/22: Third (and final) racking. Measured SG at 19°C: 1.008

Calculated ABV: 11.85%

2012/05/27: Tasting session. First opening of the bottle. Racked one .5 liter bottle to age.

Notes

Lurwah: Full taste of honey, without the sweetness of sugar. Notes of Mate come through quite well balanced with the smell and taste of the honey. Takes some getting used to, but very drinkable. Not headache material.

WitchDoc: Had a few glasses and liked it very much. Although i'm not sure if it can be contributed to the Mate in the mead I had a hard time getting to sleep that night.

Moem: I found it surprisingly unsweet. Mate hard to detect, but present; honey not all that noticeable, either. Quite tasty tough. Moar plz!

Mate wine

Planned:

Recipe

5 liter water

1 kg dextrose

100 gram Mate

4 gram yeast

Possible methods of preparation:

One

Brew Mate at 73°C

Dissolve sugar

Cool down to ~25-30°C, add yeast

Ferment

Two

Dissolve sugar

Cool down to ~25-30°C, add yeast

Ferment

Brew Mate at room temperature

Three

Dissolve sugar in 4 liter of water

Cool down to ~25-30°C, add yeast

Ferment

Brew Mate in 1 liter of water at 73°C

Add brewed Mate to fermented sugar solution

Four

Dissolve sugar

Cool down to ~25-30°C

Add yeast and Mate

Ferment while (cold) brewing Mate

It might be necessary to remove the Mate before the ferment is finished